APRIL 12, 2016 | GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Shenggen FanDirector General, IFPRI
Looking back at 2015
Sustainable Development Goals
Global goals that call for local action
COP21
Commitments to slow GHG emissions
WTO ministerial meeting
Pledged to eliminate distortionary trade policies
Low oil & food pricesOil: Lowest in 11 years
Food: Falling fourth year in a row
Refugee crisis
More migration from Afghanistan, Eritrea,
Myanmar, Syria+
Slow economic growth
Driven by slowdown in emerging economies
2015Climate change
El Niño: Ethiopia’s worst drought in 30 years
Regional and national developments
MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
• Persistent conflict in Syria
• Rising prevalence of overnutrition
SOUTH ASIA• Bangladesh: New nutrition, food safety
policy
• India: New sanitation, irrigation program
AFRICA
• 18 countries achieved poverty MDG
• El Niño; Conflicts in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan
LATIN AMERICA & CARRIBBEAN
• Poverty & hunger MDGs achieved
• Increasing overweight, obesity
EAST ASIA• China: New food safety regulation
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank established
A new global food system for meeting multiple SDGs
New food system
Efficient
Inclusive
Climate-smart
Sustainable
Nutrition- and health-driven
Business-friendlyOver half of SDGs relate to food
security and nutrition
2016 GFPR overview
Value chains, food systems
Regional developments
Green energySustainable
diets
Climate change, smallholders,
SDGs Healthy soils
Food loss and food waste
Water management
Food policy indicators
Smallholders key to achieving Sustainable Development and Climate Goals
Examples of how support to smallholders can contribute to multiple SDGs
Source: Adapted from Farming First
Refugee crisis: Complex, interrelated causes
• Food insecurity and lack of nutrition are cause and consequence of conflict
• % of hunger and undernutrition increasingly concentrated in conflict-affected countries
• Climate change, epidemics, and food price spikes increase risk of civil conflict
Source: Breisinger, Ecker and Trinh Tran 2015
Lebanon: More than 1 million refugees
Jordan: Over 600 thousand refugees
Syrian refugee crisis
• 8.7 million food insecure or at high risk (Jan 2016)
• Nearly 1 million seeking asylum in Europe
• 13.5 million still in need of assistance inside Syria
Strategies for building resilience must be in place to address root causes of crisis
Sources: WFP 2016; UNHCR 2016
• Short run: Humanitarian aid BUT must pave way for development efforts
• Long run: Investments that transition toward development, e.g. improve infrastructure; foster trade with refugees’ countries of origin
Building resilience is critical
Source: Breisinger et al. 2014
Source: Mabiso et al. 2014
International community has crucial role
• Regional / international action needed to contain external
stresses, e.g. natural disasters, food price shocks (World Development Report 2011)
• Open, transparent, and fair trade can help build resilience
• Encourage north- and south-south learning, cooperation to match evolving security landscape
• Country-specific food security policies key for development and peace (Breisinger 2013)
• Country-level analysis and strategies crucial, e.g. Yemen’s 7-Point Action Plan
• Revisit efficiency and allocation of public spending
The global food system is unsustainable...
…it must be reshaped to
achieve multiple SDGs
Photo credit: IFAD/Susan Beccio
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